Future Song
by MzLuluZombie
Summary: Miku Hatsune wakes up far from home, and without any clear memories to go on, she travels along with the Kagamine twins to get back home. But with the mystery around their marks, they might be travelling with unwanted company. Read and review, please!
1. World is Mine?

I have NEVER used the VOCALOID program before, but being a fan of J-Pop I stumbled upon the songs created that featured characters / voice banks from the system. So, this is just something I'm writing out of free time between other things, so there's no guarantee this fic will last long. Though I do hope you enjoy what little there is of it. Just say if you're interested and I might continue. =)

**DISCLAIMER:** I'd sooner break dance to Levan Polkka than gain the rights to VOCALOID or its characters and their trademarked memes.

**NOTES: **

1) - *insert words here* - = Singing. Just thought that instead of using _italics_, I use those little dashes, in case there may be some confusion with thoughts or flashback talk or anything else. Trust me, there will be more song stuff should this continue. =)

2) I am unaware of most fandom things involving VOCALOID, so please forgive me. There's been at least one fanfic for every fandom out there where the writer isn't a die-hard fan and / or doesn't know a lot. I'm just a fan of some of the songs and I find the characters cute, particularly the Kagamine twins.

PS: Official art of the franchise is officially lost to me as the interwebz is overrun by fanart. And leeks. Lots and lots of leeks. By any chance are the Farfetch'd pissed at Miku for stealing their vegetable?

PPS: Oooooohhhh, I just found out that it's a spring onion, not a leek. *Feels like a bimbo*

* * *

- World Is Mine -

_First, should I cut my hair,  
I expect you to know by how much, down to the last inch  
Second, when I ask how I look,  
__Be sure you notice that I'm wearing new shoes,  
Third, when I speak one thing to you,  
I expect you to say three things in reply,  
__Lastly, my hand is pretty lonely here,  
So, why aren't you holding it?_

_

* * *

_

_Knock, knock, knock._

_"Miss Rhodia? Do you need any help getting ready?"_

"No, I'm fine, Miri-chan!"

"_Alright, but the show starts in a few minutes, ma'am. I'm afraid the boss won't be happy if we're behind – "_

"All done!" Mei fixed the last neon band on one of her short, blonde pigtails and grinned at her reflection with pride. Finally! These things were a nightmare! "You can come in if you like, Miri-chan!"

_Swish!_ The door to Mei's dressing room slid open, and she turned around to face the light-haired and flustered woman with the clipboard. Mei did a little turn for her assistant to show off her attire. "How do I look? I managed to get changed by myself this time!"

"Ah, you look like a real pop star, Miss Rhodia!" Miriam said, sounding pleased as she did a quick check for anything Mei had missed. "I see that note you sent to the designers got through in the end!"

"Yep!" Mei chirped, twirling on the spot. Although she didn't really like the overly complicated fashions she had to wear for her performances, she had to admit that they did look kind of cool in their own little ways. She was wearing a white, spotless dress, with a puffy and frilled skirt and a hemline that reached her knees this time (wardrobe tended to give her short skirts most of the time, so she liked this change of pace), and a bodice that just about covered her chest. To go with the dress, she wore separate frilled and puffy sleeves from her armpits to her wrists, and matching leg warmers to go over her high-heeled shoes. What stopped this from being a frilly nightmare was the neon pink trim and lining on the outfit, as well as glowing bands around her wrists, neck and pigtails. To finish it off, Mei placed a small, little tiara on her head. This outfit wasn't the best, but Mei liked it in its own way.

"Um, Miss Rhodia?"

"Hm? What is it Miri-chan?"

"Your tattoo is showing."

Mei looked in the mirror and twisted around to see the mark below her left shoulder. The red '01' tattoo was visible, peeking out from her puffy sleeve. She pouted and looked at Miriam, pleading. "Can't I just leave it like that?"

Miriam shook her head frantically, almost dropping her clipboard. "I-I'm afraid not! You know your boss doesn't want it showing!"

"But Miri-chan, kids aren't gonna try getting tattoos because of one little mark! And this outfit's too bright for anyone to take notice!" Mei protested, but Miriam was already getting something from the bathroom. She came back in with a makeup bag and started to rummage about in it. Mei continued with, "Besides, I like this tattoo! I don't want to go hiding it just because of publicity!"

"Sorry, Miss Rhodia, b-but you would get an earful if you showed that in public," Miriam insisted, pulling out a small pot of blusher and reaching for Mei's sleeve. Feeling defeated, the teenager allowed her assistant to pulled the sleeve down a little to apply the makeup over the tattoo. "And I'm not so sure that it suits you, anyway."

"But I like it," Mei moaned, disappointed that she couldn't get her own way. She checked the patch of makeup against her skin in the mirror, not very pleased at how poor a match to skin colour it was. "And all this thing does is bring more attention to my shoulder than before."

"S-sorry, Miss Rhodia, b-but orders are orders." Miriam took a look at the clock on Mei's desk, and immediately started to go into a complete freak-out mode. "Y-you need to be onstage in four minutes!"

With a tired sigh, Mei held out her arm half-heartedly and let the taller of the two drag her out of the dressing room and down the brightly lit hallway. Mei was aware of the usual routine, especially the 'we're gonna be late' part. After a while, it got boring. So she gave a little smile and wave to any of the people the two zoomed past, and took an occasional glance at the screens on the walls, showing the brightly lit stage and the stadium of cheering people.

Miriam and Mei had to make a final dash down the stairs to get below the stage area on time. A female stagehand helped give a last-minute check on Mei's costume, to be sure that all of the neon parts of it were working and that nothing was out of place. When all looked well, the stagehand gave Mei her mic and started to give her a quick reminder of what to do.

"When the platform starts going up to the stage, the lights will begin to move around the stadium. When they turn blue, that's your cue to sing. Please be careful and keep your arms and legs within the area of the platform at all times, and do not step off the platform until it has come to a complete stop. If there are any problems, you can contact us via this earpiece." With the last thing said, the stagehand showed Mei the small, single headphone plug with a tiny mic attached to it. As the stagehand helped fasten it properly to Mei's ear, she added, "Simply press the button to talk into it when the stage mic is away from your face."

'Good luck', Miriam mouthed, waving as Mei stepped into place on the small, round disc that hovered above the floor. Mei gave her assistant a wink and tried to be steady as the floating disc began to rise through a hole in the ceiling.

The huge, circular stadium was filled with fans, screaming and cheering and holding up a number of signs for her to read. She grinned as the beams of colour from the stadiums lighting system moved around in the crowd. Then, they shifted from their pattern of different colours to the same blue and, remembering that was her cue, quickly got into a pose and started to sing into the mic.

_- _"Sekai de ichiban o hime sama…" _-_

The platform began to float upwards through a hole through the unsuspended stage, a little like an elevator, and Mei closed her eyes and felt a smile on her lips as she continued to sing.

_- _"Souiu atsukai kokoro e te – " _-_

Mei felt the platform slide and click into place, and the lights travelled from the crowd to the dark stage. The beams of blue all shone on Mei and shifted to a bright pink, and she opened her eyes and looked up at the crowd.

_-_ " – yo ne?"_ -_

_

* * *

_

_Mei Rhodia was an idol in Vibrato City. Everyone there knew her name, her songs, her style and her future: global diva. But that wasn't going to happen for her, because one night, Mei Rhodia vanished._

_It was just like any other concert at first. She performed songs live on stage, including a couple from her upcoming CD, that kind of stuff. Everything was fine until halfway through the concert, and Mei went backstage to get ready for the next act._

* * *

"Miri-chan!" Mei called, stumbling out of her changing room, "I checked the dresser and it's not there!"

Miriam was searching through her virtual clipboard, clicking the 'forward' button to scan screen after screen about details concerning the concert. "I-I'm sorry, Miss Rhodia, I don't know where it could be!" Miriam poked her glasses back up her nose and put on a serious face. "I'll go and make _sure_ wardrobe actually sent it here!" With that, she walked back down the hallway.

Mei let out a long sigh and stepped back into her room, making sure the door was locked before she started to change out of her neon outfit. Oddly enough, despite it being fairly easy to take off, it was suddenly very hard to take off. With an annoyed huff, she gave up on trying to undo the dress part of her ensemble and just stripped her arms and legs and took out all of her hair's accessories, and while she was at it she rubbed off the makeup that concealed her tattoo. She'd have to ask Miriam to help her with the remaining dress. How was it that Mei could undo all of the neon attachments but not the dress itself? Damned zippers.

She sat down at her dressing table and checked her reflection in the mirror, thinking maybe she could get a start on her makeup for the next act. But as she scanned her face, something close to her hairline caught her attention. She leaned up close to the mirror and pulled some hair out of the way to take a closer look. There was a thin line of something greenish there, below the blonde colour of her bob-cut. It was strange, but it looked as though she was wearing… a wig? What? Since when did she wear a wig? This was her natural hair! …Right?

Curious and, perhaps more than a little bit panicky about this, Mei gripped her hair from the top of her head. No pain? With a deep, apprehensive breath, Mei clamped her eyes shut and pulled.

And that's when the lights went out. Mei opened her eyes, wide-eyed and suddenly scared when she could see nothing. Oh no. Not now. Were the lights malfunctioning? She stood up and stumbled about in the dark, feeling around for the panel by the door. She punched at the button she believed to be for the lights, but nothing happened. And then there was an announcement over the speakers.

"_There has been a technical problem in Vibrato Stadium's lighting system. All those in the audience for the Rhodia Concert are asked to please remain seated until further notice. A barrier has been raised to prevent attendees from falling over the edge for health and safety issues only, and that does not mean you are permitted to leave your seats."_

"Tech problem?" Mei groaned to herself, feeling about on her dressing table for one of the neon accessories she had left there. She found one of the small ones pretty quickly and brought it to the part of the wall she was pressing herself to, switching it on. In the pink glow she could see the door controls, and she pushed the button for it to open. Mei took a peek out into the pitch dark hallway, but there was no-one there. She could hear some people talking, but it was mostly about asking what happened or whining about the inconvenience. Mei let out a whine of her own and started to walk down one direction of the hallway, not really sure where she was going. She just wanted to find someone to be around, so as not to feel lonely. The speakers kept up the announcement.

"_All maintenance staff on floors 2 and below, please report below stage to assist in repairs. All maintenance staff on floors 3 and above, please see to any other damage that may have occurred. All security staff are to attend to attendees and detain any unauthorized personnel…_

_Tap tap tap tap tap -_

Mei paused. She could hear rushed footsteps, running footsteps. Actually, she heard two sets of running footsteps, and the tired huffs of two voices. She held the small neon light tightly in her hands and turned the next corner. Maybe it was someone who could -

_SLAM!_

_CRACK!_

In what felt like less than a second, five things happened, almost simultaneously. First, Mei saw what appeared to be the bright glow of a flashlight. Second, she felt someone crash into her, third, her head cracked against the wall, and fifth, two pairs of hands each grabbed one of her arms to steady her.

When she felt those hands touch her bare arms, Mei felt a weird shock pass through her, like she had just been zapped by a harsh electrocution, and yet also had been given a hug from a gentle vibe that passed through her.

And then, Mei Rhodia was gone. And the last words she could remember hearing were that of the announcement on the speakers.

"_Have a nice day."_

_

* * *

_

SLAM!

_CRACK!_

Len felt himself crash into someone in the dark, and his small, cylinder flashlight fell from his hand and onto the floor. Rin wasn't far behind, also crashing into the same person and knocking them back. In a strange pink glow, Len saw the person, a girl it seemed, hit her head against the wall with a painful _CRACK!_, and like his sister, reached out and grabbed one of the girl's arms to stop her from falling to the floor.

"_Have a nice day."_

"Ow…"

"Sorry!" the twins burst out at the same time. Len heard the echo of footsteps from behind, and he tossed a quick look at where the twins had come from. No flashlights yet, but he knew that he and Rin should keep moving to avoid being caught. He released his hold on the girl and grabbed his light off the floor.

"Rin, c'mon!" He jogged on the stop to warm up and looked at Rin to see if she was ready to go. But she was standing there, suddenly holding a glowing neon light to the shoulder of the arm she still held. Len repeated himself in the same hushed voice. "Rin!"

"Len, we can't just leave her here!"

"Rin, we don't have time, those guard will help - "

"Our tattoo!" Rin interrupted, roughly turning the dazed girl around to show her brother the mark on her shoulder. Len stopped jogging. '01'. "It's like ours! Same colour, same thing!" Rin looked at Len with a pair of desperate blue eyes. "What if those bad guys come after her too?"

Len took a good look at the girl with the tattoo. She was just a little taller than him, with almost impossibly long, greeny hair, and a white, puffy dress. Her face was hidden partially by her bangs, but she looked mostly out of it, mumbling a couple of incoherent babbles. Len took another look down the hallway. The footsteps were getting louder. They really couldn't risk getting caught and slowed down, but as Rin pointed out, they couldn't just leave this girl to take their place. And they _had_ just rendered her _mostly_ unconscious.

"Alright, but we have to move double-time!" Len hissed, He jogged over and turned around, slinging the girl's arms over his shoulders and hoisting her legs up and around his waist. As the girl's head lolled onto his shoulder, Len heard her mumble some more. He dropped his flashlight into Rin's hand for her to hold. "You take over!"

"Got it!"

And with that, the twins continued to find an exit. In summary, to Len's dismay, they had basically knocked a girl unconscious and kidnapped her. Now it gave them even more reason to be on the run.

* * *

Like I said, feel free to comment if I should continue this.

PPPS: I also don't happen to know the exact personalities of the VOCALOIDs, so for now I'll say that Mei is… um… _dead_ (wow, that OC-ish person didn't last long 0_0), Miku's a happy-but-not-so-go-lucky teenager with a temper, Rin is a lovable carefree goofball and Len is more responsible than Rin but still a bit of a goofball. Tell me if I'm wrong so I can put 'Out Of Character Characters' in the tag. ^ ^;

Later Days!


	2. Meeting Big Sister

**DISCLAIMER:** I'd sooner play an electric guitar to Secret Police than gain the rights to VOCALOID or its characters and their trademarked memes.

**NOTES: **

_Rainbow Munchkin_ - Yup, I'm aware of that, that's way Rin was saying 'same colour, same thing'. =3 Though it was still a bad line, I'm sorry DX

There are Canonloids and Fanloids that will appear in this fic (by Fanloids I mean Vocaloids like Neru and Haku). Just to let you guys know that I'm getting info and such from the VocaWiki place thing about tidbits of info, so it may or may not be right (then again this fic is in an Alternate Universe so blah =P)

- *insert words here* - = Singing. Just thought that instead of using _italics_, I use those little dashes, in case there may be some confusion with thoughts or flashback talk or anything else. Trust me, there will be more song stuff should this continue. =)

* * *

- Meeting Big Sister -

* * *

_Ow… ow ow ow… My head… hurts…_

…_Papa… ugh… Papa, what happened?_

_Was there a glitch… or something?_

…_Papa… are you there?..._

…_Papa?..._

* * *

"…"

"…Rin, stop staring at her."

"But I want her to wake up! She looks like a nice person!"

_Voices? …They don't… sound like Papa's…_

"How does she _look_ like a nice person?"

"Because, _Len_, she's pretty!"

…_Maybe I should… open my eyes now…_

"…Aaand?"

"…Uuum… That's all I got."

_But… I'm too tired… maybe I should sleep more…_

"Just because she's a pretty girl doesn't mean that she's a nice person. We'll have to wait and see."

"So, you think she's preeetty?"

"…Sh-shut up, Rin."

"Somebody's got a cruuush!"

"Rin!"

"Relax, I'm just teasing!"

_Someone's… giggling?… they sound close… wait…_

Miku lazily opened her eyes halfway to see where she could have been. And she came face to face with another pair of eyes. Both pairs of eyes stared at each other, blinking in turns. She could feel it coming up from within, and then her delayed shock finally kicked in. She let out a scream. "AAAAAHHHH!"

"YAAAAAAY!" A pair of arms had pulled her up and into a tight hug, bouncing up and down on the spot with glee. Miku was now wide awake as she tried to struggle out of the hug, listening to the short girl squeal, "You're awake, you're awake, you're awaaaaake!"

"Wh-who are you?" Miku stuttered, a little amazed at this girl's vice-like grip around her neck. Suddenly Miku had been put back down and the blonde was now standing over her, a hand pointed to the ceiling.

"I'm your _saviour_, silly!" the blonde roared triumphantly with a huge grin. Miku just stared fearfully at the little one, clinging to a blanket she had found on her lap. There was silence for a long time before the blonde pouted and went right up to Miku's face again. "What's the matter, you feeling okay?"

"Uh, Rin? Please stop scaring her," a new voice piped up. Miku looked around, seeing another blonde. It was a boy, supposedly related to this girl from his similar face and hair and eyes. Miku instantly assumed they were twins when she saw that they wore similar coloured casual clothes. The boy was looking at 'Rin', annoyed. "And stop shouting. What if the manager gets mad and kicks us out?"

"Oh, he wouldn't kick us out, look at us all!" Rin squeaked, flinging her arms around Miku's neck again and laughing. "We're all too cute to get kicked out!"

"It's _his_ hotel."

"It's _our_ room! …for the next couple of hours." Rin let go of Miku and let her drop back down again, smiling. "I'll go make us something to drink! Anything you want, big sister?"

Miku pulled the blanket up over her mouth, shivering under the blonde's optimistic gaze. "N-n-no thanks, I'm fine." First impression of this 'Rin': psycho. Rin shrugged and ran off into another room, 'lalala'-ing to herself. Miku sighed with relief, but took another cautious glance at the boy, who was sitting on a chair the wrong way around.

"Don't worry about my sister. She's harmless… uh…" He was trying to look reassuring, but he still looked doubtful about his own words. He rubbed the back of his head with one hand. "Well, I guess she can get a _little_ carried away… sorta." Then he suddenly brightened up and looked at her with a smile. "Right, names first! I'm Len Kagamine, and that was my sis, Rin Kagamine!"

Deciding it was somewhat safe, after all these two didn't look old or tall enough to be kidnappers or anything, Miku sat up in place and tried smiling back. "My name is Miku. Miku Hatsune."

Taking this opportunity to take in where she was, she found that she was in the living room of a poorly lit apartment. The walls were a dull colour and the floor's carpet didn't look all that soft or nice. It was barely furnished, with just a small television set built into the wall, a coffee table, a couple of worn out metal chairs and the couch that Miku found she had been lying on.

Then she noticed her own clothes. Why was she wearing this white puffy dress? And… actually, now that she thought about it, she couldn't remember much about anything. She remembered her Papa, but only vaguely to her disappointment. And her name, she remembered that. Her birthday… no, that wasn't there. Everything aside from some inklings of her papa was really fuzzy. She groaned and rubbed her forehead, feeling her head throb.

"Miss Hatsune?" She looked up to see that Len had shuffled a little closer to the couch to get a better look at her, concerned. "You okay?"

"I'm… fine, thanks." Miku let out a long breath and shifted herself around to face him, placing her feet on the floor and sitting up properly. She smiled at him, as it seemed to be her turn to do the reassuring. "I've just got a little headache, no problem."

"Oh! Yeah, right, uh, we're sorry by the way!"

"Sorry about what?"

"Uuuuuuuhhh… Rin'll tell you!" Len said hastily, swivelling his chair around a little to avoid looking at her. Miku lost her smile, curious about what he wasn't telling her.

And, speaking of Rin, she was now strutting in from was seemed to be the bathroom, humming a pleasant little tune. She put a tray of drinks down on the coffee table and almost instantly thrust one into Miku's hands. Thankfully, and surprisingly, none of its contents spilled. "I made you hot cocoa to help warm you up, big sister!"

"Uh, th-thank you, Rin," Miku stuttered, focusing on not spilling the cocoa all over herself. Rin smiled so sweetly, you could almost forget that mere minutes ago she nearly strangled Miku back to unconsciousness.

* * *

"_Whaaaaaat? She's GONE?"_

"Calm yourself, Beta. Yes, she's gone."

"_How's that possible? Weren't you guys the ones so confident about all the 'security at all times'? Huh?"_

"There is no need for any further information."

"_What? I have every right to know! If you guys weren't so _picky_ then maybe you wouldn't have _slipped up_ big time!"_

"Beta I will not hesitate to warn you; mind your words. You do not have the right to question us nor the right to demand from us."

"_You're telling me that no-one saw Mei Rhodia, 'Diva of Vibrato', leave the stadium? Gee, I _love_ how strange that is, since she's that snowglobe's sweetheart and all."_

"You are aware of the consequences that come with talking back. You are to be transported immediately and you will be briefed on your assignment before arrival."

"_What? That quick? What do you need me for?"_

"I made it clear that you are not to question us. Prepare to leave, Beta."

"…_*sigh* Understood."_

* * *

"You're… um… I'm sorry, I think I lost track." Miku asked, rather… _confused_ by the twins' retelling of how they found her. Rin was doing a lot of the talking in such a fast-paced voice, and many things she was coming up with weren't making so much sense. Len often intervened to correct his sister, from tiny exaggerations to complete fabrications. Miku actually found herself counting off events of the tale as they happened. Right now she checked things off in her head to see how everything was in her mind. "I'm a little confused about that part in the middle. Something about a… fruit… salad?"

"That's our stage name!" Rin cried triumphantly, putting her arm around Len's shoulder and pulling him close, while pointing her free hand in the air. "Together, as Orange and Banana, we get the best tips that duets can get!"

"…Orange and Banana?" Miku whispered to Len.

He looked awfully annoyed, giving Miku the feeling that this topic had come up before. "Favourite flavours… don't ask."

"We even had matching hats for that one breakdance we did!"

"…Miss Hatsune, _please_ don't ask about _that_ either."

"…Okay, well now that I know that," Miku mumbled, checking off the part about Fruit Salad. It helped explain why Rin kept mentioning it; she was referring to _themselves_ in third person. Miku thought it over and looked back up from her fingers to the twins. "Is it alright for me to run the story by you so that I've got it right?"

"Sure thing, big sister!"

"I don't mind, Miss Hatsune."

"Well, here goes." Miku did a mental rewind of the story in her head to help her remember the story. "The two of you are staying in Vibrato City, which is where we are now, until you can afford to leave for a much bigger city. You've been earning tips for money by performing on the streets, and that's how you got to… um… the main… stadium? You were bustling as Fruit Salad to get more attention from people at a concert, but as you were on your way back here, a gang of thugs cornered you."

"Actually, Miss Hatsune, it was only two guys. They weren't really thugs either."

"They were still mean!"

"Oh, right. Sorry. So the _two_ guys tried to steal your tips but one of them found the mark on your shoulder. Then they tried to take you instead, but you both got free and ran into the nearest door you could." Miku did another mental check on the story so far before continuing. "You were running down these corridors in a building to get away, but they still followed you. Then the lights went out, and you got ahead because you had a flashlight. And then you found me and brought me here for safety."

"That's right, big sister!" Rin smiled and finally let go of the headlock she had on Len. She leaned forward and pointed at the numbers on Miku's shoulder: _01_. "We brought you here 'cause we have the same tattoo-thingies, see?" Rin rolled up the sleeve of her orange-plaid T-shirt and moved her arm so that she could let Miku see. In the same style of shape and colour, the red numbers read _02_. Len tapped Miku on the shoulder quickly, and she looked at him to see that Len had also rolled up the left arm of his T-shirt to reveal the same numbers.

"Do you know what they're for?" Miku asked. Rin flashed her a big grin.

"Not a clue! But it wasn't the first time someone acted like that 'cause of these."

"It's not?"

"It happened in the last place we lived in," Len piped up, looking a little less cheerful than his sister. He rolled his sleeve back down and rested his chin on the back of the chair he was in. "It was a man and a woman. They saw our marks and acted all weird about it. They tried to take us with them but we got away, packed up and left for the next town. That's when we caught the train all the way out here."

"Vibrato City can only be reached by Aquarails, and tickets for those trains are expensive." Rin took a big sip of her hot cocoa and gulped down the whole mouthful before she continued to explain. "We thought it would be safer here 'cause Vibrato's not as big a city as places like Ddrevolutia City or Orchestralla, plus this city's not really much of a tourist attraction. But then those guys last night popped up." Rin paused, looking as though a thought had suddenly occurred. "They mentioned something like a 'payout' before we started running. I don't think they were talking about our tips."

"That's right. They were talking about something like that when they grabbed us. We managed to get away while they were distracted with that," Len chipped in. "Then when we ran into you, we took you with us, just in case those guys saw your tattoo too."

"Soooooooooo, what were you doing, big sister?"

"…What?" Miku was a little confused by Rin's question, so the blonde pouted and repeated her question.

"Fruit Salad were getting tips and being chased, we told ya that. So what were you doing before we found you?" She leaned towards Miku and poked the puffy skirt of her white dress. "And why are you wearing this funny thing?"

"Well, I… I…" Miku hesitated and thought it over. Nothing, like before. She thought harder but still nothing came to her. She thought even harder, and felt as though the effort was making her painfully cross her own eyes, but there wasn't anything to think over. Anything concerning whatever she had been doing last night wasn't there, from the way it seemed. She looked at Rin and find said, "I… don't know."

"You don't know?" Rin echoed, her head tilting to the side for her visible puzzlement. "How come? Were you sleepwalking? Drunk? 'Cause if you were drunk than that means you should've been hung over right about now, right?"

"No, no, nothing like that. And I don't drink," she mumbled quickly, looking down at her cocoa. Miku frowned. Why didn't she know? Surely, she could remember something about last night, or any night before that, right? She closed her eyes and made an attempt to find a sliver of an answer. "…I'm not sure why but… a lot of things are fuzzy in my head right now."

"…Uuuuuummm…" The twins looked at each other briefly. Then they both looked at her and said, "Sorry."

"PAPA!"

"…Huh?" The blondes backed away from their current places after Miku's sudden outburst.

Miku couldn't help it. She had found a memory, an important memory. It wasn't so clear, but it was enough, and it was the most recent memory she could muster up. She looked up at the twins apologetically, realising that she must've startled them. "S-sorry, I don't know why I did that."

"Is something wrong, Miss Hatsune?"

"Yeah, what's wrong, big sister?

"…I can't really remember," she admitted, rubbing her temple as though it would aid in finding the memory clearer and quicker, "but it was something about my Papa. Th-that I need to be with him."

"Where does he live? We can walk you there if you want."

"Thanks Len, but…" Miku looked up at them both. "You said we're in a place called Vibrato, right?"

"Yep, Vibrato City!" Rin caught on that Miku was looking unsure because her smile faded and she looked at Miku with a sad look of sorts. "Why, don't you live here?"

"No. I live in Retro Town, it's somewhere… somewhere near… I don't remember that either, sorry." Miku sighed and looked into her hot cocoa, staring at the faint reflection to look at herself. Her teal-green hair was let down and looked a mess, and her matching eyes didn't look so lively. She had this feeling that she had never looked in the mirror before with a face like this. She sighed once more and looked up at the twins. "How much are those… um, 'Aquarail' tickets?"

"Expensive. They can go up to 200 cree per ticket."

"T-200c?" Miku stuttered, quickly patting at the skirt of her ridiculous puffball dress. Nope, no pockets. "I can't afford that!"

"Retro Town, Retro Town… I don't think the Aquarails go there." Miku looked Rin with hope that the blonde didn't have bad news. "They're not really all that popular and they only have a few stations at the main cities right now. That's why the owners make us pay a lot of our tips, so _they_ can buy more stations for us to pay for!"

That was bad news. Retro Town definitely wasn't a main city. Miku put her cocoa down on the old coffee table and lay herself back down on the sofa, tempted to fall asleep in the hopes of waking to find this was just a dream and that she was back in Retro Town. "How am I going to get there?"

"We can help, big sister!" Rin squeaked, kneeling at Miku's bedside (or technically sofa-side) and grinning. "We've got plenty of money, we can spare a ticket!"

"We can? Wa – Ow! Uh, I mean, 'Oh, we can'!" Len joined in. Miku opened her eyes and saw Len rubbing his shoulder.

Rin kept going. "We can help you get to that Retna Town!"

"Um, it's Retro Town."

"There too! We've got enough for three tickets and plenty after that to spare!"

Miku sat back up and shook her head in protest. "No, that's you're money. You two need it more than I do after what you've told me."

"That's baloney! You've got the same tattoo as us so you'd have to leave quickly anyway!" Rin stood up and grabbed Miku's hands, pulling her up to her feet with her. She looked up at Miku with a huge grin. "And we weren't going anyplace special anyway! So c'mon, let us help! Pleeeeeaaaaase?"

Miku looked into Rin's blue eyes and saw nothing but a sweet little girl, asking to help any way she could. She waited, her eyes wandering over to Len. Sure, he didn't jump to the chance at first, but there was a genuine want to lend a hand in his eyes as well. She looked back at Rin and, with another tiny sigh and a weak smile, she accepted the offer. "If you really want to help. Thank you both."

"No problem big sister!" Rin cheered loudly, flinging her arms around Miku's neck and pulling her into a one-sided hug, laughing.

"We'll have to go quick, Miss Hatsune," Len said, picking up the empty mugs and taking them into the bathroom. "The Aquarail's only got a couple departure times today."

"Okay. Len?"

"Yeah, Miss Hatsune?"

Miku smiled at him. He looked maybe her age, or a year or two younger, so the way he addressed her was polite but a little unnecessary to her. "You can just call me Miku. Actually, I'd prefer that you call me that, I mean all of us are travelling out of here together now, right?"

"Uh… sure, right! I'll be out in a sec. Rin, try not to choke Miss H – uh, Miku!" Len stuttered, walking into the bathroom. Miku heard him mumble, "How does she always manage to leave me with cleaning the dishes?"

Rin pulled away from Miku so quickly that Miku had to take a moment to register it. She looked down at the young girl pouting up at her. "Rin?"

"…Do I have to call you another name as well?" she mumbled, a little disappointed.

Miku thought over an answer to give in her head. Surely it couldn't do too much harm to just let Rin call her whatever she wanted, right? Rin had already taken a liking to her and she had jumped at the chance to offer the twins' help. Miku didn't feel it right to hurt the girl's feelings. So she put on a smile, somewhat forced, and told her, "You don't have to. You can keep calling me what you want, Rin, I don't mind, really."

Rin instantly brightened up and bounced on the spot. "Thanks, big sister!" And before Miku could intake or exhale any measurement of air, Rin had changed to subject. "So, you wanna change out of that pretty dress? You don't like it much, right?"

Had Rin been that aware of Miku or was she just reading her mind? Regardless, Miku didn't want to refuse a suggestion that involved switching to an outfit other than a marshmallow dress with bare feet. "Yes please, if you don't mind."

"Alright, dishes are clean and ready to be packed up."

"Leeeeeen! Can big sister borrow some of your clothes?"

"What? Why can't she borrow yours?"

"Because my clothes won't fit her, I'm smaller! Yours would be a better fit!"

"Okay, Miss Miku can borrow mine then."

"Good!"

"Gaaaah! Rin, not the clothes I'm wearing right now, I meant the ones in my bag!"

Miku watched as the siblings interacted with each other. Rin was currently trying to pull off Len's T-shirt while he was trying to stop her. Though it looked like Rin was winning. As Miku watched their antics, she couldn't help but smile and stifle a giggle. She couldn't deny that she had found an odd pair of travelling companions to Retro Town. Still smiling, she looked over to the windows shielded by the small, mechanical blinds and watched as little beams of light filtered in at the gaps. There was a pleasantness to looking at them that Miku found comforting.

Perhaps Papa was just fine. Maybe the thing about him she couldn't remember was something silly and unimportant. But there was still that urge to get back home as quickly as possible. She didn't even want to think much of how she ended up in a strange and different place right now anyway.

* * *

Hooooooooooly crap, I haven't updated my other fics in aaaaaaaaageeeeees! D=

**Random Trivia 'cause I'm in a hurry and I don't have anything sufficient to say here!**

Miku Hatsune – 17  
Kagamine Rin & Len – 15  
People having a conversation – [ERROR 404: Spoilers most definitely found and denied]

OK, I'm updating this first because I have to leave for college in a minute and this is the earliest chapter I could finish with the plot close-to-straightened out before I head off! I'll be updating this later by spellchecking and making any corrections, I just don't have the time, bye, Later Days!


	3. Boarding at the Aquarail Station

**DISCLAIMER:** I'd sooner scream to Minus than gain the rights to VOCALOID or its characters and their trademarked memes.

**NOTES: **

There are Canonloids and Fanloids that will appear in this fic (by Fanloids I mean Vocaloids like Neru and Haku). Just to let you guys know that I'm getting info and such from the VocaWiki place thing about tidbits of info, so it may or may not be right (then again this fic is in an Alternate Universe so blah =P)

- *insert words here* - = Singing. Just thought that instead of using _italics_, I use those little dashes, in case there may be some confusion with thoughts or flashback talk or anything else. Trust me, there will be more song stuff should this continue. =)

* * *

- Boarding at the Aquarail Station -

* * *

"_Sergeant Coles to SF-A2, repeat, Sergeant Coles to SF-A2."_

"This is SF-A2, reading you loud and clear."

"_Very good. This briefing will have to be quick, so I'd suggest paying attention to what there is of it."_

"Of course, Sergeant."

"_Rokenroll's law enforcement have been included in a priority investigation by Capital Command. It concerns an individual in detainment at Rokenroll's prison facility. You're already on your way there, am I correct?"_

"Yes, Sergeant. To be precise I'm about 2.71 miles from it as of now."

"_Good. Report in and speak with Sergeant Kwan immediately. You will have details on your assignment once you're inside."_

"Roger, Sergeant. SF-A2 signing off."

* * *

Miku had to be forcibly dragged, in a way. Whilst the Kagamine twins were guiding her out of the way of various obstacles to the Aquarail Station, Miku was too busy being distracted by the scenery surrounding them to focus on watching where she was going.

She had never seen a city like this before, at least from what she could recall from her limited memory told her that. Vibrato was filled with tall buildings of gleaming glass and shiny, silvery structures, varying in size and sometimes even varying in shades of colour. The sky above it all even had a glossy shine to it. And roads were almost none-existent, as Miku had not seen a single vehicle of any kind pass them by. She could barely hear any noise indicating there _were_ cars here. Just smooth sidewalks with patterned slabs and plenty of room for whole crowds of people to walk back and forth on. This city looked as new as the twins had explained.

"_Vibrato City wasn't built too long ago. It was only free for people to live in when it finished construction last year," Len had told her before they had departed the hotel. "From what I know, it was built for the Aquarail system to make shipping in Melodis easier. I heard that some fishermen come here for good business, too."_

"_Melodis… That's the name of… um… this continent, right?"_

"_That's right, big sister!" Rin had been giggling a storm as she helped Miku tuck all of her long hair into a cream newsboy-styled hat._

Speaking of that hat, Miku focused on her reflection in the ridiculously reflective glass window they were walking along. The hat still kept her hair tucked in, so all that was visible were her green-blue bangs. There was a small clip with a plastic banana near the brim of the hat (which she insisted to Len that it didn't look embarrassing at all) which added a cute quirk of sorts to it. The rest of her wardrobe was, also, borrowed from Len; an orange and white striped T-shirt, some gray knee-low shorts and a pair of white sneakers. The pink polkadotted socks, however, were borrowed from Rin, since she wanted to lend Miku something as well, and the small shoulder bag she was carrying was the only item the twins allowed her to carry. From the looks of their own bags, two big and bulky backpacks, they must have been too polite to let Miku help with the heavier luggage.

It was a short stroll to their destination and it was evident when not even five minutes had passed since leaving Rin had piped up with, "Here we are!"

The three of them stopped walking and their attention was now on the domed mini-building in front of them. It was a metallic baby blue, with small squares of space around its wall's perimeter that dented inward just a little. The little dents were lit up with pictures of the sea, drawn in crayon by artists of young years, from what Miku could tell of the quality.

She wandered over to look at each picture in more detail as the twins hurriedly jogged in through the transparent glass doors of the stations. Len, who must have noted that Rin had not prompted so and instead took off, had to quickly inform Miku that they would get the tickets and be back soon. Now that she was close enough to see, some messages were beneath the lit drawings, with names and ages of children and messages of thanks for a school. It made her feel all warm and bubbly, and her attention was taken up again. In fact, by the time something had come up, she was lost in a moment of smiling uncontrollably at a sweet, misspelled message of a girl at age four. Miku was wishing she could stay and look around this city some more when Rin and Len suddenly ran over, grabbed her by the arms, and pulled her behind a nearby row of decorative shrubs.

"What? What is it? Is something wrong?" she asked. Rin slapped a hand over her mouth and Len put a hand on Miku's head to lower it down a little.

"Shh!" the both hissed.

Miku carefully pulled Rin's hand from her mouth and mouthed to her, _What's wrong?_

_They're here,_ she mouthed back. She tapped Len on the arm to get his attention. _We clear?_ Len shook his head in reply, going back to peeking around the corner of their shrub.

Miku didn't want to second guess them, but curiosity was too tempting. She slowly lifted her head underneath Len's hand and took a quick peek over the shrub. Two men, mid to late twenties, were walking up to the sliding doors of the station, taking deliberate looks around the area just as slow as their pace. They didn't look too out of the ordinary, both wearing casual clothes, one with a shaved head of hair and the other with a scruffy hairstyle. They looked like two normal people on their way into the station. But then she noticed that the one with the scruffy hairdo kept patting something under his jacket. Miku looked carefully until the jacket stretched briefly to show the shape of - !

She quickly ducked her head down and, with wide eyes, whispered just quietly enough for only the twins to hear. "They've got a _gun_!"

"They _what_?" Rin gasped. She covered her own mouth, perhaps in case she made a noise too loud. Miku looked at Len and nodded at him. He took a quick peek for himself, and shortly ducked his head back with the same look of horror as the girls.

"Do they really want to catch us so bad they'd bring a _gun_?" Len hissed to himself. Miku looked from him to Rin and she believed that she knew who these men were. They must have been the men chasing after the twins last night. What were they going to do?

* * *

It had been a long day.

June Fadden was a respectable police officer on the force in Rokenroll Town. She had a bobcut of dark brown hair, usually neat and proper but today in a state. She had light, steely eyes that she liked to focus when interrogating, but instead of the usual ice to it there was just exhaustion. Her skin was normally darkened from her days of playing in the sun through her younger years, but today her tone was paled, especially around the face.

June hadn't eaten a thing for nearly two days. She had just spent the last twelve hours avoiding getting shot at on a local black market bust. She hadn't called home to check in since the day before. She hadn't even had a coffee since returning to the station. It had been a _long_ day.

Just a few minutes after returning to the station with a cuffed man struggling to get out of her grip, June had left any paperwork to one of her more friendly co-workers and went straight to the locker room to change. All of the navy blue protective gear officers on the field had to wear these days just felt like it was getting heavier and more time consuming to fit on. It took her a while to remove one sleeve of the body armour alone. She really needed her coffee right about now. In fact, once she was done, she insisted to herself that she would get a mug from the lounge and that no-one would get in her way.

"Hey, Fadden."

That is until a fellow officer blocked her way. He was a big, bear-like man, so it wasn't too easy to just manoeuvre around him. Reluctantly, June stood up straight all business-like and addressed him. "Morning, Joanes."

He grunted in reply, and continued to communicate verbally. "The Chief wants to see you in the briefing room. Said something about a new assignment."

Great. The last time she received a new assignment this way had only finished just this morning, without her coffee might I add again. Oh well, all she could really do now was suck it up and hope it wasn't another hectic bust.

She parted ways with Joanes and made her way down the grey-skinned corridors and the closed darkened doors. This route was only lit by the fluorescent lighting of the station due to the lack of windows, one thing that June would admit to hating about going to the briefing room. The whole station was very professional in design, matching the interior design of the prison attached to it. Sadly, these bleak walls and floors and ceilings were starting to be like a second home to her. She didn't like that. A family woman wasn't really supposed to favour this kind of area to the comfort and brighter one of home.

It was one elevator trip later that June found herself walking into the briefing room, which was a nice change of pace as per usual. It was a moderately big and circular room, with one half of the curved wall dotted with big windows. It let in plenty of the late morning light of day, adding just a little bit of life to the steely walls that dominated the room. In the centre was an oval shaped table with revolving chairs set into the shiny floor, and a small scaled down size of the station's building was projected above the table from a light built into it.

Sitting on one of the chairs was her boss, Chief Kwan. And sitting next to the elderly, grey-haired man; a robot. June knew it was a robot from the visible marking of a bolt and joints where its elbow attached its lower and upper arm, and from the look in its eyes; un-alive. The robot looked like a young, teenaged girl, with long red hair that fell out behind it, one strand in particular springing up on the top of its head like a single antenna. And, strangely enough, this robot was wearing shirt and skirt that looked designed to resemble a blue cadet uniform.

Chief Kwan greeted June in his usual way; a friendly smile that made the wrinkles on his face more evident. "Ah, there you are, Fadden."

"Chief…?" She made that one word sound like a question, and a confused one at that. The Chief stood up from his chair and gestured to the robot to follow. He walked up to June until they stood a metre apart. June took another look at the robot that followed him and asked, "Is this to do with my assignment?"

"That's why I like you, Fadden. You're a quick thinker." Chief Kwan motioned at the robot and introduced her. "This is SF-A2 from Ddrevolutia City, though her Sergeant has said that we are free to refer to her as Miki." He looked back at June. "She has been sent to assist with the secTech case."

June took another look at the robot, who smiled and waved cheerily. It must have been given some kind of personality programming. She looked back at her boss. "I'm sorry, sir, but I don't really understand how a robot is to help us with a robbery. We've already interrogated suspects and spoken with the witnesses, so - "

"Are you forgetting one specific person involved in the case?"

"…Excuse me, sir?"

It was then that June noticed her Chief was holding something; a thin folder of someone's file. He gave it to her and, curiously, she flipped it over. Inside was a single sheet of paper of someone's brief profile, and something that must have been slipped into there by the Chief, a polaroid picture of the same person. While she had the thought of how old-fashioned polaroids were now, June looked back up at Chief Kwan. "We found the guy in the picture?"

"Just a couple of days ago. That's when my friend Coles offered to send Miki here for assistance." Chief Kwan walked back to the table and sat down in one of the chairs, spinning to face both June and the robot. "I want to keep the interview with this man short and safe. That is why we have Miki, in the hopes that her presence may make him more willing to comply."

"I highly doubt a robot - "

"Actually, she is an android, to be precise."

"…an _android_, sir, would make the suspect more willing to tell us about the theft."

"We have a hunch that it might, Officer Fadden. I agree with my good friend that this situation would be much safer and less discomforting for this young man is Miki here goes with you."

June looked at the redheaded thing standing next to her. It was smiling up at her, looking cheery and almost human. Almost. June really wished she could have backed out of this situation, but what could she do? She was being given a job directly by the head of Rokenroll's force. If she had to work with a robot, she had to work with a robot. Without making her reluctance too visible, June stood at attention.

"You and Miki are to find the suspect and question him on his whereabouts on the night of the theft. We need to see what his connection is to secTech and their break in."

"Yes, Captain. Understood."

"Affirmative, Captain Kwan!"

June stole a glance at the robot that saluted with her. She wasn't going to enjoy her time with this 'Miki'.

* * *

"…Are they gone?"

"Shh! No, they're still just standing there!" Len whispered, waving a hand at Rin to tell her to keep it down. He quickly went back to what his attention was primarily on, the two men who had been chasing them down the night before. They were just waiting around. Len would have wondered how they knew where he and his sister would go. Of course, it didn't really take a genius to figure that the teenagers you would attempt to kidnap would try and run away to lose you. It didn't help that the Aquarail was the only quick transportation out of Vibrato.

"Len, won't the train be leaving soon?" he heard Miku whisper. He didn't look at either of the girls; all he could do was nod and keep track of the thugs while doing so. There was silence amongst them, with only the sound of the few other people in the area chatting and going about their business. A chime came over a loudspeaker, followed by an announcement; their train was five minutes away from leaving. The only entrance into the Aquarail station was the entrance their stalkers were posted at and Len knew they would be late. They wasted their money on tickets they would use. But then, when it looked like their situation was at a low point, Miku crawled around Len and deliberately looked at him. "Keep an eye out and wait until it's clear."

Rin pounced at Miku and grabbed her arm in an attempt to restrain her. "What are you doing, big sister? They're after us, remember?"

"Rin's right! We have to avoid them!" Len hissed, putting a hand on Miku's shoulder and shaking it a little as though to get her out of whatever trance she was under. Miku shrugged his hand off and gently de-clawed Rin's grip on her arm.

"I know, but they don't know that they're after _me_, too."

"…What?" the twins breathed in sync, looking at each other. Len could tell that Rin was on the same level as him as they went through the stages of realisation together; confusion, then putting together what Miku said, then realisation. The both looked at her and said, "No!"

"_Yes_," Miku whispered, giving them a smile that would have been reassuring, were it not for the danger they were in that involved a weapon with bullets. She edged further away with the words, "When you two are safe on the train, I'll get on too. Just be ready to get moving while they're distracted."

Before Len or his sister could stop her, Miku had jumped out from behind the shrub and jogged over to the two men. Len caught the look on her face – a false expression of fear with tears – before Miku's back was to them and she was already standing with the two men. The man hiding the gun looked tense, but as Len watched with anxiety, the gun holder relaxed as Miku began sobbing to them.

He listened carefully, feeling Rin shuffle up next to him and peek around the bush as well, and he couldn't help but smile. He couldn't help it when he caught some of the story their new friend was feeding their 'hunters'; apparently, her little sister of six years had wandered off and Miku couldn't find her anywhere. She was drastically concerned as, of course, her little sister just _happened_ to have asthma and needed to use her inhaler immediately.

The men knew how to put on a façade as well. They were believing Miku's story and pretending to be nice about it, even offering to help look for the 'lost little sister'. They didn't even seem to suspect that perhaps she was being as false as they were.

It didn't take any more than a minute for Miku to have the two men pretty much wrapped around her sad little finger. She lead them over to an area a little distance from the station's entrance, presumably to show them the last place she saw her sister. All three of them had their backs turned on the shrubs where the twins hid; when the males weren't looking Miku flashed a peace sign behind her back.

"Let's go," Len whispered. Rin nodded and followed his lead; they both made a quick beeline for the sliding doors.

"Hey! Pierre, it's th – AGH!"

Len skidded to a halt and looked back after hearing one of the men yell. Was Miku alright?

No, she wasn't. The man with messy hair was groaning on the floor, clutching his stomach in pain, but the one with the shaved head, Pierre, had restrained Miku with his arm around her neck as though he were trying to choke the life out of her. "You'll pay for that you little b - "

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Len yelled along with Rin. They both charged forward and slammed into the big man. The force of their momentum had jogged his arm enough for Miku to slip out of his grasp and fall to the ground, and Pierre was knocked into a row of the neatly trimmed bushes. Len had to take a moment to regain his footing before spinning around to check on Miku. Rin was already helping her up, asking her frantically, "Are you alright? Are you hurt? Did they punch you or anything, big s - "

"RIN, DUCK!" Len charged towards them and raised his fist. Pierre's friend had gotten back up and was sneaking up behind his sister. She looked at him with the strangest look; it was Miku who realised what Len was trying to do and pull Rin out of the way. Len swung his fist into his target's face and surprisingly his strength was enough to knock a grown man to the floor with one of the most hilarious expressions anyone could wear.

"Len, let's go!" Rin called, already making a dash back into the building with Miku being dragged along behind her, protesting that she could run by herself just fine. Len jumped over the body of the dazed man that lay one the sidewalk and sprinted as fast as his legs could carry him after the girls.

The three had made it just in time to their platform. In the last split second before the doors to one of the carriages closed, the twins and Miku had slipped on board before access back outside was cut off from them with the doors sliding shut. Len took a moment to catch his breath with his hands on his knees and his eyes shut tight, with only the exchange of dialogue between Rin and Miku to listen to.

"That… was close."

"Phew! So, big sister, why was that other guy on the ground?"

"…Excuse me?"

"Duh, when Fruit Salad came to your rescue! One of those mean guys was already on taken down!"

"Oh. Well, I, um, sort of… kneed him in the stomach. Ow… my knee still hurts from that too."

"Ah, that's nothing to worry 'bout! We've had accidents like that plenty of times and we barely feel a thing! Right Len? …Len?"

By now, when Rin had decided to include Len in the conversation properly, he had opened the door to the private room in the carriage. The girls followed Len in and he felt their eyes on him as he slouched into the cushy sofa seat on one side of the small room, holding his fist with the other hand, and he finally replied through his teeth, "Speak for youself, sis. That guy's jaw must have been made of _bricks_ or something." Len groaned with discomfort when Rin started to laugh, and it made his face even redder when Miku let out a giggle. He frowned at them both from under his hair. "Shut up."

The Aquarail train began to move along its single rail and it pulled out of the station. Miku had sat herself down next to Rin in the sofa seat opposite Len, and she looked happy enough keeping Rin occupied with chatter about girl stuff; finding some new clothes for Miku at their next stop and such. After all, Len had to agree that it wasn't fair on their friend to have to borrow clothes from them that would barely fit.

All through their talking Len was fixing his hair. No, it wasn't because he was obsessed with it or anything like that. First, her had nothing better to do. Second, the last thing he wanted was for anyone to think of him as just some messy kid. Besides, it wasn't his fault that it kept getting out of place or loose form its short little ponytail; it was the fault of everyone who had been chasing him down along with his sister. It was just when Len had finished neatening his hair up when he noticed that Rin and Miku had stopped talking. Curious, he snuck a peek to see if anything was up. They were watching something out of the big glass window; Len followed their gaze.

The train had curved around in the direction towards land, giving them all a clear view of Vibrato City from the outside. It was as small a city as it was described, built on a foundation that went deep, deep into the blue ocean below it. It was a little hard to see the metallic posh buildings of Vibrato with the huge, transparent dome over the whole place. Len remembered when he and his sister had first seen it. It looked like a pretty good place for them to settle for a while.

"_That's_ Vibrato?" Miku asked, sounding as though she couldn't believe it.

Rin's giggling only stopped once she had thrown her arms around Miku's neck. "Yep! It's pretty, right big sister? Like a snow globe!"

"Yeah… yeah, you're right, it does." Miku seemed to brighten up a little as she watched Vibrato City get smaller and smaller. Len smiled at the girls awe and admired the view with them. They all continued to watched the domed city until it was nothing more but a dot on the horizon of the sea.

And then Rin got bored. Len began wishing that the peace from watching out of a window would come back and keep Rin entertained some more.

* * *

The fight scene sucks. You know it.

And yay! Miku, Len and Rin made it out of Vibrato City! And you can assume whatever about Pierre and Shaggy-Hair guy, they won't appear ever again. XD

Ok, how about some misc facts about our new character, June Fadden! And yes, she has some importance. Shut up, it's my story, I'll add an OC if I want to. =P

_June Fadden_  
**Age:** 28  
**Occupation:** Officer at Rokenroll  
**Habits:** Drinking coffee, smoking, complaining  
**Role:** You'll see. She'll have her time. For now she'll be a _Deadpan Snarker_.

I'll grammar check this later.

Later Days!


	4. The Lucky Dance of Cat Ears Switch

**DISCLAIMER:** I'd sooner perform ballet to _Paradise of Light and Shadow_ than gain the rights to VOCALOID or its characters and their trademarked memes.

**NOTE****S: **

There are Canonloids and Fanloids that will appear in this fic (by Fanloids I mean Vocaloids like Neru and Haku). Just to let you guys know that I'm getting info and such from the VocaWiki place thing about tidbits of info, so it may or may not be right (then again this fic is in an Alternate Universe so blah =P)

- *insert words here* - = Singing. Just thought that instead of using _italics_, I use those little dashes, in case there may be some confusion with thoughts or flashback talk or anything else. Trust me, there will be more song stuff should this continue. =)

* * *

- The Lucky Dance of Cat Ears Switch -

June stepped out of the cab and slid the door shut behind her. This place was a dump. Of all the run down alleys and streets of what many called 'Old Rokenroll', this was by far in the worst condition that June had ever seen. The buildings were made from brick and cement compared to the newer buildings of today. She hadn't seen anything made from brick in a long time. There were a couple of stray trash cans knocked over and lying down on the sidewalk with their contents already searched and salvaged. The air had an old musty and rotten smell from the open vents of the sewer beneath the ground and graffiti was spray painted everywhere. _Everywhere_. Ground, walls, rooftops, you name it. Even the trash cans mentioned before.

She heard the faintest hint of a whir with the sound of the movement of clothing, and she looked down next to her to see that Miki, her android 'partner' for the day, was now standing next to her, having also left the cab. Miki was looking around at the area with the look of a child in a new place, and she began to speak redundant facts about the area.

"Downtown Rokenroll, once thriving but now home to a much smaller percentage of Rokenroll's overall population." Miki slowly turned on the spot as her eyes darted from one thing to the next, too quick for June to figure out where she was looking. "The old downtown area has not been renovated in 2.3 decades since the completion of the new downtown closer to the modern districts of Rokenroll. On average the residents within this area are without money or homes therefore are forced to live in the abandoned buildings or take up shady jobs within the area. Crime rate has lowered due to a higher rate of busts, such as drug dealings, human trafficking, slave and information brokers, black market businesses and - "

"There's no need for all the intel," June sighed, raising a hand as a prompt for the android to cease processing information. "I've been here plenty of times."

June could pick up almost everything robotic from this being. She moved in almost fluent motions, but every now and then displayed the slightest stiffness in moving her arms or head or legs. When Miki spoke, there was the tiny echo ringing from her mouth thanks to her electronic voicebox. June didn't like robots. They had no true life. To give robots the illusion of being human or to give AI the intelligence to be curious of emotion was a cold lie, perhaps even cruel to those around it and, if June was being nice, the lifeless beings themselves.

Her mind went back to the task at hand. She opened the handbag that accompanied her civilian appearance and slipped her hand into the file she had brought with them. She pulled out the Polaroid photo that was, in its style, as old as these streets compared to current technology, as well as her holographic phone. June tapped a couple of keys on the virtual screen to find her memos and held it almost reluctantly to Miki for her to see. "This is the frequency for my radio. When you're done remembering it I'd like you to type yours in it underneath. Name as well, if you don't mind."

The android did as ordered with her programmed smile and instantly typed in her frequency. June slipped her phone back into the bag and took another look at the Polaroid. It was a young man, somewhere in his mid-twenties if June had to guess. He had dark blue hair, blue eyes and looked overall charming if June had to take much interest. And the only information the pair had about him, the only information that anyone but their bosses had about him, was his name and his possible location. She flashed the picture at Miki and when Miki nodded after seeing it, June put that away as well. She really didn't need to show it to a robot with a pristine memory but sadly habit from repeated searches like this compelled her too. She was just as bad as anyone else.

"We'll split up. I'll look for Shion on this side of the street, you search that side. If you find him, contact me."

"Roger that, Officer Fadden!"

With that, June turned away from the fake girl skipping to the other side of the street and began her search.

Upon closer inspection, the living situations of the old downtown went from less than appealing to uninhabitable. How did people live in places like this? Sure, back then these rough brick walls were new and strong, but now they were coated in spray paint, rotting and close to falling apart. June even had the displeasure of discovering more than a few homeless people living in the old buildings. Many of the 'residents' were either sick, dirty or thin as a twig. Of all the places in Rokenroll and they had to force themselves in living in such a dreadful place.

June asked whoever she could if they had seen Shion. Some answered with a 'no' after thinking it over, some were quicker to denying seeing him. There were even a small handful of people who didn't speak at all after she showed them the photo. Just who was this Shion? Were the people who acted suspicious connected to him? Were they scared of him?

In fact she was so frustrated at not getting any leads that the next person who acted cautious about Shion made it the last straw. He was a tall, lanky middle-aged man with his skin tight to the bone of his face. If he hadn't been wearing such baggy clothing June was certain that he would look like living teaching skeleton. As soon as she showed him the photo, he turned away and answered casually, "Ain't seen the pretty boy nowhere."

June was trying to remain professional, but she couldn't do it anymore. She didn't have any cigarettes on her person and she was having the strong craving for caffeine. June didn't think much of repercussions should there have been any, so she had no worries about grabbing the skinny man by the scruff of his shirt and pulling him down to her eye level. She could hear the sound of her teeth grinding in her head between pauses as she spat out, "Look, I've just about had it with the attitude around here! This man is connected to a current investigation and the sooner I get information the better! So tell me the truth, where is this man?"

"…You… you ain't gonna arrest 'im?"

"Didn't your mother teach you proper words?" June growled, releasing her hold and shoving him away from her. When the man regained his composure and backed a good distance away so she couldn't grab him again, she felt she could continue with his full attention. "He'll only be taken into custody if it's called for."

"Di'n't do it."

"Excuse me?"

"Shion." June was a little surprised when the man called her suspect by name. He looked down at her about as sincere as he could look with his thin face. "He ain't the man t' do anythin' t' get the cops on 'im."

"…Where can I find him?"

"Give me yer word he ain't gettin' arrested."

June frowned at the man and crossed her arms. "Tell me. Why are you trying to cover for him?"

"'e's a good man. Done a lot fer us downtown." The man's face turned cold and he stared June right in the eye. She felt herself take a step back. "'e done a lot more than you people."

There was a beeping in June's ear. She felt so relieved. Being stuck in this man's cold stare was very discomforting. She raised her hand to her ear and pressed her fingers against the earpiece hidden beneath her hair. "Fadden here."

"_Officer Faddon, I've located the suspect."_

June turned her back to the man she was questioning. "What's your position?"

"_In pursuit__. Suspect Shion ran as soon as he caught sight of me. He's currently retreating to your search area."_

"Where?"

"_Suspect Shion is retreating into a building named Ricket Roller Industries. __He's just entered it now."_

"I'll be there as soon as I can." June dodged around the man she had been interrogating and made a run down the street, recalling passing a building with the name in that direction. She tossed a scowl over her shoulder at the man. "Your good man's on the run! Think about that!"

June turned a corner and the building was in sight almost instantly. She hopped over an overturned trash can and slipped into the first door available.

The interior was just as dull and eroded as most of the buildings outside. She was in a big warehouse area of the building. There was a damp stench hanging in the air with the sound of water dripping into something hollow. The old style of walls had paint peeling, dark stains and cracks everywhere. Boxes were damaged by water and stacked in random areas around the floor for no real purpose.

She heard the echo of footsteps from an open door in the hallway and charged through after the sound. There he was. Almost at the end of this second corridor, June saw the back of a man wearing clothes too nice for him to be poor and the same shade of blue in his hair as his old picture. June could hear only her own footsteps over the combined sound of her heart pounding and her heavy breaths. She always did forget to breathe properly when it came to running.

Shion ducked around a corner. June was almost at the end when something was thrown back from where he came. Miki had been sent flying into an already crumbling wall; instead of simply falling down from the impact, June witnessed the robot's momentum cause a great dent into the old plaster. The hallway shook and small pieces of the ceiling peeled from the structure and cracked down to the floor. The officer growled and turned the corner, continuing pursuit.

"_Officer Fadden, I __advise caution. Suspect Shion is stronger than he appears. Chances of casualty are 0.8374924 - "_

"I don't need the long version!" June snapped, catching sight of the man ducking around another corner.

"_Affirmative, Officer Fadden. Chances of casualty are 0.84__ of a whole to the nearest two decimals. Caution is still advised."_

"Thanks for the tip!" She heard the hollow echoes of metal, the distinct sound of rushed steps down a staircase. Seeing an opening down another corridor, she skidded to a slower pace and shot through to a metal walkway.

The plaster walls ended and June was on a suspended length of metal grating, one that overlooked a vast area of the warehouse. This building must have been used for shipping previously; crates and boxes that were far from usable were stacked and piled in corners, blankets over them. They must have been used as makeshift beds.

She ran over to the end of the walkway and grabbed onto the emergency ladder. June took a deep breath, praying this would work, pressed the sides of her feet on either side of the ladder and let herself slide down to the floor. Shion was already in sight, making his way around or over the stray crates. June kept her eye on him, but lost attention on what she was doing; her foot slipped, her hands tightened on the ladder and her body hung from the metal ladder like a helpless little rag doll. Her head jolted from the sudden slip and hit one of the metal rungs.

Things weren't clear for her then, like it was all in an unreal dream state. Her grip from ladder was gone and she felt herself fall. June wondered why the floor took so long to break her fall; she hadn't been too far from the ground after all, so why wasn't she? With a head that she couldn't keep up, June tried to see where she was. She saw a familiar face. Where had she seen it again? Wait, yes. That old photo. Shion? What was he doing? Then her body flopped again, and the man with blue hair turned around and left her.

"Hold it… stop in the… name of…" June could barely even slur her words as, with an awful dizzy sense, she tried to push herself upright. What was beneath her was something damp and flimsy; one of those boxes maybe. She looked around for Shion but fell back onto the boxes, putting a hand to her head. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She just let him get away.

"_Officer Fadden!"_

June felt herself recovering from her accident somewhat, albeit slowly, just as the artificial voice of Miki rang in her ear. With agitation, June felt around her ear and pulled out her earpiece, mumbling with gritted teeth, "G-go after… go after Shion! And get me a… a damn doctor or… or ice or something!"

"_Affirmative! Would backup also be appropriate for the situa - "_

"Yes, fine, whatever… lemme sleep!" she groaned, shaking her head.

"_Yes, ma'am! This is SF-A2 requesting backup, location is Downtown Rokenroll, Ricket Roller Industries Warehouse. Suspect is on the run and we have an officer down. Repeat__, this is SF-A2 requesting back- "_

June chucked the earpiece to the floor and let out a long moan. Damn, her head hurt.

* * *

- "Kimi to watashi de, hyu hyu  
atsui kodo kizan dara" -

- "Kawai neko mimi tsukete  
futari de goro goro shimasho" -

Miku clapped in time to the silly tune that Rin and Len had begun to sing. Poor Len. He was dancing next to Rin, who was smiling from ear to ear, while all her seemed to manage was a weak and embarrassed smile. Admittedly, he looked adorable in the hat Miku had borrowed from him, even if his sister was making him perform against his own will. She must have not had much patience or tolerance when there was nothing to do.

The aquarail was still travelling across the Vibrata Sea, the area of the ocean Vibrato had been built at the edge of its border. The sun was setting and the warmth of what remained of its light for the day was coming in through the sole window of their little room; the window was big and almost covered the whole of the wall, with rounded corners and a silver-metal frame. Now that she had become settled after the encounter with those men, Miku was able to get a much better look at the little room of their carriage. It was about three metres wide for the walls with the door and window, and big enough for a three-person cushioned seat on either end of the room. The floor space wasn't much, but enough for the twins to perform their dance routine, so long as Miku kept her legs up on the seats. The walls were a baby blue and the carpet was a deep navy colour, most likely to fit a water theme for the aquarail's interior.

- "Natsui atsu dane, fu fu,  
senpuki no kaze abi tara

- "Ice ga tokete pota pota  
arara choppiri setsu nai ne" -

The twins finished their routine with their arms outstretched towards the ceiling. Miku clapped and cheered as Rin took a curtsey and as Len (whose face had surprisingly avoided turning deep pink) took a bow. Rin took one big step across the room and jumped into the seat next to Miku, still grinning with glee. "That's the routine Len and me always use for tips! It's how we start our performances and it brings us good luck!"

"So you get more cree after performing that?" Miku asked, hoping occupy Rin's attention in a conversation rather than make her and her brother perform for Miku alone again.

Rin pouted and shook her head. "Nuh-uh, people don't give us that many tips for one show." But then Rin returned to her smile and started to swing her legs over the floor, back and forth. "But lotsa good stuff happens after a show with Cat Ears! Sometimes we find new places for our shows, sometimes we find a lucky coin and, this one time, we found this really nice old lady and helped her find someplace. She bought us ice creams to thank us!"

"That's not lucky, Rin," Len mumbled, sinking into the seat on the other side of Miku. Miku felt sorry for him; he looked genuinely exhausted. "We got those ice creams because we were nice to her, not because of our good luck song."

"It's also how we found big sister!" Rin added, swinging her arms around Miku's neck for the umpteenth time since they had met to give her a hug.

Miku looked from Rin to Len to Rin again. She wasn't sure that she could follow what they had meant. Len must have noticed. Miku's eyes focused back onto him when he explained. "We sang Cat Ears while we were performing last night, and then we were chased and... um, you know the rest."

"See, finding big sister is good luck!" Rin giggled.

"Yeah, it is. I never said our song doesn't _work_, Rin."

"It was _implied_."

"Was _not_."

Miku stared at Len, who looked as though he were trying to fall asleep, then she looked at what she could of Rin (as the sweet girl was still hugging her). They really thought that their finding her was good luck? Really? She felt her lips pull into a smile. She didn't know why, but somehow these two made her feel good inside; special, maybe?

"Oooooh, let's get some food!" Rin squeaked, pulling away from Miku and running over to open the door of their room. Miku flopped back onto the seat from the unexpected release from Rin's hug, making an 'oof!' sound as she fell. She heard Len snort, but when she looked at him she saw that he was covering his mouth. He must have been trying to be polite and stifle any laughter he would have made. Miku giggled herself and sat up, looking over at Rin. She was waving frantically to catch someone's attention. "Miss! Miss! Miss! We've got money! Please wait!"

"What is it, Rin?" Miku asked, curious. Len, almost reluctantly, stood up from the seat and walked over to Rin, standing on his tiptoes to see over Rin's head.

"Oh, it's the food trolley."

"We've got change, let's get something before they run out of snacks!" Rin squeaked, dodging past Len (making him lose balance and grab the door frame for support) and pulling one of their big, bulky backpacks down from the luggage shelves. She rummaged around inside one of its pockets and pulled out a bright orange zip-up purse.

Len shook his head and looked back over to Miku. "Looks like we're getting something to eat. Do you want anything, Miss Miku?"

"Len, you don't have to add a 'Miss' at all. Just call me Miku," she giggled. She felt a little bad about making poor Len looked embarrassed some more. "And I'm alright. I don't want to impose or anything."

"You're not imposing, Miss Miku!" Len insisted. She couldn't stop herself from giggling again when the blonde boy gave a light slap to his own forehead. He looked back over to Rin as though he wanted to change the subject. "Rin, there's no need to rush! The service lady isn't going any – WHERE!"

Rin had pulled a sharp turn away from the backpack, grabbed Len by the wrist and shot out of the door, dragging her brother behind her. "Waitwaitwait,Ifoundourmoney!" she was calling after the service lady Miku had not yet seen.

She sighed and let herself flop into the comfy, cushy seat. This was nice. She had never once been on a train before, but she had heard of them. True, the aquarail wasn't a standard train, but you couldn't deny that it was essentially a train built to go over water rather than under it. Miku thought for a moment. It must have taken ages to set things up for the aquarail system. She didn't recall hearing any news about it, but then again, she never found interest in the outside world.

Miku held onto the thought as something came up; a strange feeling, like a voice in a quiet corner of her mind telling her, nagging at her to focus on that lack of interest. She closed her eyes and did as the nagging voice ordered.

_She was sitting down, up to a table, buttering a slice of toast that had been burnt around the edges. It looked edible enough, but the black of it didn't look appealing. _

_There was a hum of sound, the chatter of a voice coming from something; a radio, maybe? She never could tell between that or the TV in the mornings as she never paid attention to them. Papa always had the volume low anyway; maybe he put __it on to add some background noise? _

_She never did mind it at all. Books, music,__ maybe a drama; _those_ were things she felt interest in, not news or recent events._

"_Papa, did you need anymore help with your work today?" she asked, looking up from her breakfast to his usual chair. It was empty, as was the chair of their close friend. She sighed. They must have been very busy today for them to just leave. Oh well, she would see them later anyway. She always did…_

"Eeewww, this stuff is gross!" Miku's eyes snapped open. Rin's voice had brought her out of the scene in her mind and back into their room on the aquarail.

"Rin, you haven't even tried it yet," Len sighed. Miku watched the twins walk back in and sit themselves on the seat opposite, sorting through the few snacks they had bought from the food cart. She could see three cans of soft drink and a packet of potato chips among them as Rin began to take her pickings.

"I can't believe this is all they had. I'm calling dibs on the _Tropic Tango_ and _MegaMunchies_!" she declared, holding a big bag of cracker snacks and a brightly coloured can in her arms; she quickly scooted away from her brother, cautious of him.

Len let out another sigh and held out the remaining two drinks for Miku to see. "They didn't have much, so we just got the last three drinks. You can have the _Forest Frenzy_ flavour if you w - "

With a little squeal of delight, Miku reached forward and, instead of the drink that Len offered, she took the green-coloured can from his other hand. She looked at the label with joy; _Spring Step_. "I didn't think they made this anymore!"

"Big sister, you like veggie drinks?" Rin asked, making a face. Miku laughed and nodded, opening the can carefully. There was a fizzle as the metal top was broken and Miku let out another squeal. It even sounded the same! "Isn't it leek or something yucky?"

"Spring onion," she corrected Rin, taking a big gulp from her can. "I used to drink this stuff as much as I could! Papa hated it when I had to go to the dentist afterwards!"

"Isn't this brand meant to be healthy?" Len questioned, looking at his Forest Frenzy can, most likely to check the ingredients. Miku smiled and started to swing her legs back and forth, as though she were a child again.

"Not if you drink 10 a day, it's not!"

"T-ten?"

"Alright, enough about veggies, let's eat!" Rin groaned, holding up a big bag of chocolate fudge blocks. "I call dibs!"

"Rin, you've already got the cheesy crackers."

"I'm a growing girl, I need more than little crackers!"

Miku giggled to herself. She reached over and plucked the bag of fudge from Rin's hand and hid it behind her own back. "Savoury before sweet, Rin! Now let's open those munchies and eat, I'm starving!" Of course Rin protested to them sharing 'her' _MegaMunchies_ but she put up little resistance to Miku and Len together. She insisted on having a bigger share of fudge later.

Spending the time being carefree for now, Miku didn't think anymore of the nagging for now. Whatever it was, she would remember later.

* * *

This is around 3 months later. SORRYSORRYSORRY. Also, I fail at chase scenes and suspense. 8D

**Trivia:**

1 - Originally this chapter focused on June and Miki alone, but I scrapped the idea due to the ending of it being forced and somewhat rushed. I instead decided to keep the first scene and wrote about Miku and the twins in place of what followed.

2 - Vibrata Sea is the ocean that separates the continents of Melodis and Harmonia from the bigger continent Symphon. Symphon is to the east of the former two continents. Vibrato City is located on the northern border of the sea, just before it changes to the Concherta Sea.

3 - Downtown Rokenroll was not built over because there were fears of pollution being stored beneath it, thus further construction could release said pollution. Many buildings aren't too far from collapsing on themselves.

4 - Rin can be a bit selfish when it comes to food time.

Later Days!


End file.
